DGCA to miss June 30 deadline for licensing airports

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will miss the June 30 deadline for issuing licences to airports by three months. The government had earlier issued a directive, saying no scheduled or non-scheduled operation would be allowed from non-licensed airports after June 30 this year.

“We have to license around 56 airports by June 30, but we will able to complete the licensing of 46 airports by that time. The rest will take two-three months more,” said a DGCA official, who did not want to be identified. He said work on awarding licences was moving well, but had been delayed because of staff shortage. Apart from the 56 airports, 22 defence airports where civil aviation operations take place, are also being licensed.

The need for licensing airports was felt after an Air India Express flight from Dubai crashed while landing at the Mangalore airport on May 22 last year, killing 158 people on board. Experts had argued since the airport was a tabletop one and did not have an overshoot area, it was tricky for aircraft landings and take-offs.

Considering the large number of airports to be licensed, a phased approach was adopted by the government, under which priority was given to the licensing of international airports.

The licensing procedure was initiated as part of the standards notified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.